Huskies Continue to Go Deep with Morris, Penix Joining In
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Last year, it was mostly seagulls and seaplanes overhead for the University of Washington football team, with vultures circling by the end of the season.
On the third day of fall camp, the Huskies continue to resemble the Sonny Sixkiller era by heaving one long touchdown pass after another.
After Sam Huard went deep on the UW secondary multiple times the day before, Dylan Morris and Michael Penix Jr. followed suit on a Saturday by winding up and letting the ball fly and putting it in someone's hands well down the field.
Morris, the returning starter and fighting for his job in a three-player competition, found tight end Devin Culp alone on the sideline and hit him with a 67-yard scoring toss.
This brought tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan running up the field, yelling and sharing in the moment with one of his guys.
Dylan Morris lets go of a practice pass.
Skylar Lin Visuals
Morris later found the other veteran tight end, Jack Westover, who came across the middle and pulled away from linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala for a 63-yard touchdown.
Penix scrambled to his left and launched one to true freshman Denzel Boston, who made a catch just over the reach of safety Cameron Williams and ran into the end zone to complete a 71-yard TD play.
Following what turned into a lengthy three-hour practice yet held in brilliant sunshine and endearing temperatures, Husky offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said the home-run balls were expected.
"If they weren't able to do that, it would be really rough on the offense," Grubb said. "We're predicated on getting the ball down the field."
Last season, the Huskies had only two touchdown passes cover at least 50 yards, with Ja'Lynn Polk going 55 to score at Colorado and the departed Terrell Bynum zipping 51 for a TD at Oregon State.
Michael Penix jr. shovels the ball to Cam Williams while his fellow QBs look on.
Skylar Lin Visuals
For this third workout, the Huskies wore shoulder pads for the first time while dressed in shorts and some guys felt compelled to hit other people, through full contact still doesn't happen until Wednesday.
Such was the case when the aforementioned Tuputala met fellow sophomore and the equally physical running back Cameron Davis in the hole and there was a loud pop.
While the quarterbacks continued to entertain with their long-distance accuracy, the Huskies had a few setbacks. They went without their most veteran offensive and defensive linemen, Jaxson Kirkland and Tuli Letuligasenoa, for much of the practice.
Jaxson Kirkland leaves practice early with three trainers.
Dan Raley
An hour and 15 minutes into the practice, Kirkland walked up the sideline and into the tunnel with three trainers following him. He didn't come back. He wasn't limping either. The UW typically doesn't give out those kinds of injury reports, so it's unclear what ails him.
Letuligasenoa similarly was in uniform, but he didn't participate in the scrimmage portion of practice. The day before, he spent a long time after practice lying on his back while a trainer stretched out his legs.
With the temperatures reaching 80 degrees and warmer, the Huskies took frequent water breaks. Twice they stopped play and milled around, similar to a movie or play pausing for intermission.
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